Covering material



Jan. 20, 1942. H. F. DEBO COVERING MATERIAL Original Filed Nov. 18, 1936AT ORNEY R 0 T N E V m Haw/a F 0550 Patented Jan. 20, .1942

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFICE COVERING Henry Debo, Kenmore, N. Y.,assignor to Certain-teed Products Corporation, .New York, 'N. Y., acorporation o'f'Maryland Application November 18, 1936, Serial No.111,427 Renewed January 6, 1939 6 Claims.

:This invention relates to covering materials, especially coverings forwalls or surfaces of build- :ings. The invention particularly relates towall boards having indicia for positioning the means :of fastening thewall boards to the building frameor support.

It has been proposed heretofore to apply to the surface of a wall boardOr panel for covering a wall or the surface of a building structuremarks for locating the nails or other fastening means so that they mayproperly engage the supporting structure. Wall boards of fibre, plaster,laminated wood and other materials commonly are manufactured in suchsizes as to be suitable for erection upon the building frame,

particularly upon the members thereof which form the partition or sidewalls and. the ceiling beams of a room. Especially in wood framestructures such as dwelling houses, in which Wood studs ordinarily 2 byl are used for the partition and side walls and in which ceiling beamsusually 2" in thickness and of depths 6"" to 10" are used, wallboardsare fastened to the studs and to the ceiling beams for the mostpart by nails driven through the boards into the studs. In ordinarypractice'such wall boards have a width which spans atIleast three studsOr ceiling beams and ordi'narily'iour studs or ceiling beams, such studsand ceiling beams being on 24" centers or on 16 centers respectively.Thus a com- 'mon width for such wall boards is 4 feet. The length ofsuch wall boards may vary from '6 to 12 feet.

In some cases in such wall boards, as hereinabove referredto, the markshave been spotted thereon in rows and uniformly spaced in the rows, saidrows being parallel to the long edges of the board at distanceslaterally spaced from said edges such that said rows will becomesuperimposed or coincident with the studs or beams which areintermediate those studs or beams to which said long edges of the boardare'fastened. In a panel 4 feet wide two such rows each at 16" from alateral edge and separated by a space of 16" have been marked upon theboard to cor respond with stud spacings of 16" centers. Such panels alsohave carried a center row of marks for studs spaced at 24" centers.boards and panels are the subject of the application of Homer H. VanHagan, Serial No. 704,832, filed January 2, 1934, said applicationhaving a common assignee with the present application.

'Theinvention of the present application relates to wall boards of thetype which have been Such wall ad U described "and particularly to wallboards carrying marks spotted as dots on the face thereof as proposed insaid application of Homer ZH.-Van v Hagan, Serial No. 704,832. Theinvention of the present application, therefore, utilizes the advantagesobtained by marking wall boards with dots which are visible only onclose inspection so that the workman may readily find the location atwhich the nail is to be driven into the intermediate stud behind theboard being erected. its proposed in said application of Van Hagan,Serial No. 704,832, these spots or dots in the present invention may bemade superficially on the sur face of the wall board, for example with adiameter of about 9: and with an ink of such a character that it willnot spread into the fibrous material or the structure of the wall board,thus to mar the appearance of the board.

According to the present invention, however, I propose to utilize an inkwhich will have the property of fading when exposed to light or to theatmospheric conditions under which the wall board is being erected. Itthus becomes possible with wall boards embodying the present inven tionto leave thesurface of the board uncovered by paints or other finishwithout having any marks showing upon said surface of the board aftersuch a period of time aswill effect fading of the ink applied to theboards to form the spaced marks in said rows as described. Moreover,because I utilize a fading ink 'I may make the marks more conspicuous,or darker or of other greater contrasting character, and may makethemsomewhat larger so that the work man will'be able with even greaterfacility than is possible with the marks as proposed by Van Hagan tolocate the nails or other fastener for driving intoor fastening to thestud behind the board. Because the ink utilized in the present inventionfades out when exposed upon the wall or ceiling,'such marks ofpronounced character or size may become unnoticeable or disappear fromthe surface of the wall when completed, thus leaving no marks whichwould spoil the appearance of the wall such as is the case when, in theerection of ordinary boards without marks, the workman draws a lineacross the face of the board for guiding him in locating the studsbehind the board. Especially in wall boards which, as manufactured, havea finished surface, such as the imitation of wood grains or in woodpanels bringing out the grain itself of the wood, the ultimateelimination of nailing marks is very desirable and heretofore has notbeen possible. Theinvention may be illustrated as in the acof the panel3.

companying drawing which shows wallboards embodying the inventionerected on studding.

In the figure of the drawing upon the studs I and spanningtherebetweenso that the edges of the panel are positioned approximately at thecenter line of the stud is fastened the panel 'or wallboard 3 by nailingalong the edge of the panel or wallboard at suitable intervals. Also, asshown in the figure, intermediate studs are provided into which thenails are driven through the center portion of the panel to fasten thepanel or wallboard to the stud. At the center line of the panel indotted outlines is shown the position of a stud I which is used in somecases instead of the two studs 5. As referred to above, in commonpractice the panel 3 may have a width between studs I of 4' or 48". Thestuds 5 then may be positioned at 16" centers so that the nails driventhrough the panel into the studs may be placed upon lines which arerespectively 16" from the lateral edges 9 For the alternative spacingreferred to above, and as disclosed in said prior application of VanHagan, Serial No. 704,832, the nails alternatively may be driven on aline at the center of the panel into the studs I. The studs 5 in suchcase not being used, no nails would be driven on the lines at thelocations of these studs.

In order to accomplish the correct nailing of the panel to the studs,and particularly for the different stud spacings illustrated theinvention proposes, as does said application of Van I-Iagan Serial No.704,832, to apply to the panel 3 lines, preferably formed as rows ofdots or spots I3, in such locations with respect to the edges 9 of thepanel as to register with the studs 5 or the stud I whichever maybe usedin a given construction. Preferably, these lines are applied to the faceof the panel by spacing the dots in the, line or row at a distance of 3When the panel, as illustrated in the drawing, is erected upon studs ofa side wall the nails I I may be driven at every third spot or dot, thusleaving unused two spots or dots between nails to secure a spacing ofbetween nails. When, however, such a panel is erected upon a ceiling andnailed to the joist or beams thereof the nails may be driven at everyother spot or dot to secure a spacing of 7" between the nails in orderto provide more secure fastening and support of the panel applied to theceiling.

Similar rows of spots or dots may be applied, if desired, at the edgesof the panels or these may be omitted. In the latter case, suitable andsecure nailing of the panel is possible because these nails are driven'near the edge of the panel and with care no difiiculty is experienced bythe carpenter or applicator in making sure that the nail enters thestud. The spacing of the nails in such case may be gauged by eye. Theapplication of the spaced spots or dots, however, is advantageous insecuring uniform spacing of the nails along the edges 9 of the panel 3.

Similar arrangement of the spots or dots may be used for the line whichis marked at the center of the panel 3 to register with the stud I forconstructions which utilize only a single stud, at 24" centers betweenthe edges of the panel in the particular embodiment illustrated. Thenails I I may be driven in this line at every third spot or dot in thesame manner as in the lines which register with studs 5, or at everyother spot or dot for panels on ceiling beams or joists.

It will be understood from this description of the drawing that, some ofthe spots or dots l3 being unused between the locations at which thenails II are driven, the spots or dots are not covered by a nailhead andremain exposed. By forming the spots or dots upon the face of the panelwith a fugitive or fading ink, according to the proposal of theinvention, those not used may disappear from the face of the panel orbecome so modified as to not be conspicuous upon said face. Moreover,when a line for indicating the location of the stud I is not used, as inthe particular case illustrated, or when, on the other hand, the linesfor indicating the locations of the studs 5 are not used, this line orthese lines, being in excess of the number of marks or lines used forlocating the studs and being formed of fugitive or fading ink, maydisappear leaving the panel face unmarred by the nailing marks.

It is now the practice, for the purpose of shipping wall boards ofvarious kinds, and particularly plaster boards having upon the facethereof to be exposed upon the wall a paper liner which may have afinished surface, in colors or of other decorative character, toassemble two such wall boards with said faces to be exposed together ina bundle or package. Said two boards may be held together by tapespasted over their ends and lapped upon the outside edge surfaces of thebundle. Such tapes commonly are of paper and may readily be cut when itis desired to use the boards but have sufficient strength to hold theboards together without slippage of one upon the other during shipmentand handling. The faces of the board to be exposed, therefore, arethoroughly protected against damage in handling.

In my invention I propose to utilize such bundles and the means offorming such bundles with tapes or in any other manner which willmaintain the two faces of the board which are to be exposed in contactwitheach other not only to prevent damage, as heretofore has been thecase, but also to prevent the light reaching the fading ink with which Ipropose to make the marks upon the board for locating the fasteners ornails. Within the scope of the invention I may utilize various means forforming the bundle or package but the invention includes a bundle orpackage of at least two boards so fastened together in the bundle as toprevent access of light to the faces to be exposed of the boards, suchboards having nailing or fastening marks thereon as described aboveformed with a fading ink.

Within the meaning of the term fading ink I intend to include any meansof marking the surface of a covering sheet such as a Wall board panelwith a material which will fade out or disappear when the Wall board iserected in place so as to leave the surface of the board which isexposed after erection substantially unmarked by such applied materialor ink. If with the material used such fading takes place under ordinaryconditions under which such wall boards are erected in buildingstructures, whether due in whole or in part to atmospheric conditions orto the light to which the board is subjected, I contemplate such fadingaction to be within the scope of my invention and the invention includesall materials which may be applied to the surface of the board to securesuch a result.

As examples of the materials which may be used for the purpose of theinvention may be mentioned the analine dyes, such as Bismark Brown andChrysoidine. Other fading inks or fugitive dyes also may be used. I havealso found that phenolpthalein mixed with a solution of an alkalinematerial, such as sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide, the solutionbeing of suitable strength to avoid permanent change of the substance ofthe wallboard or covering material, may act as a fading ink.

Some materials used in making coverings and wall boards contain dyes.For example, the paper liners on some gy sum wall boards contain MetanilYellow and auramine, In such a case an acid such as oxalic, citric ortartaric acid or, in suitably diluted strength, hydrochloric acid, maybe used as the material to be applied on the surface to form the mark.In the presence of such acids the dye contained in the covering materialacts as an indicator and the markis formed as if printed with a dye.Such a mark may fade out and disappear when exposed to light and to theconditions of use of the covering material or Wallboard.

In order to improve the printing qualities of some materials which arecapable of acting as a fading ink I may mix with the liquid suspensionthereof a thickening agent such as a gum, for example karaya gum, gumtragacanth or locust bean gum, to secure the necessary consistency andadhering quality of the fading ink.

Having thus described my invention I now claim:

1. A wall board having on the face to be exposed thereof marks forlocating the fasteners to be inserted therethrough into the supportingstructure, said marks being greaterin number than the number oflocations of fasteners to be inserted and being made with a fading ink.

2. A wall board having a width to span at least three studs or ceilingbeams set at predetermined spacings, said wall board having upon theface to be exposed thereof marks for locating the nails to be driveninto an intermediate stud or beam, said marks being in greater numberthan the number of locations of the nails to be driven and being madewith a material capable of fading under the conditions to which saidWall board is subjected when erected in the building.

3. A wall board having a width to span at least three studs or ceilingbeams set at predetermined spacings, said wall board having upon theface to be exposed thereof at least one row of marks spaced in the rowto serve as locations for nails to be driven through the face of theboard into a stud or beam, said row extending parallel to the edges ofthe board which are to be fastened to the outer studs or beams and at adistance from said edges to register with the intermediate stud or beam,said marks in said row being greater in number than the munber of thenails to be driven in said row and being formed upon said face of theboard with a material capable of making the mark visible for locatingthe nail but capable of fading under the ordinary conditions of lightand atmosphere to which said wall board is subjected after erection uponsaid studs.

4;. A covering material having the surfaces thereof marked to providelocations for fasteners for fastening the covering material to a supportin excess of the locations required in a given construction in order toadapt said covering to different constructions, the marking being madewith a material capable of making the mark visible for locating thefastener but capable under the ordinary conditions of light andatmosphere to which said covering is subjected after erection in saidconstruction of itself changing its color to become substantially thatof the surface of the covering upon which it is marked.

5. A wall board having on the face to be exposed thereof a plurality ofspaced marks for locating fasteners to be inserted therethrough into asupporting structure, the number of said marks being in excess of thenumber of fasteners to be used in a given construction to providelocations for fastening the board to different structures, said marksbeing made with a material capable of making the mark visible forlocating the fastener but capable under the ordinary conditions of lightand atmosphere to which said wall board is subjected after erection uponthe supporting structure of itself changing its color to becomesubstantially that of the surface of the wall board upon which it ismarked.

,6. A wall board having on a face thereof a plurality of marks forlocating fasteners to be inserted into studs of a wall structure, thearrangement of said marks on said face of the board providing foralignment thereof with studs at different spacings, the number of saidalignments being in excess of the number of studs intermediate the edgesof said wall board in a given construction, said marks being made with amaterial capable of making the mark visible for locating the fastenerbut capable under the ordinary conditions of light and the atmosphere towhich said wall board is subjected after erection upon said studs ofitself changing its color to become substantially that of the face ofthe wall board on which it is marked.

HENRY F. DEBO.

